Mandrian Dragonet Question

smshep01

smshep01

Member
I have a 29 gal tank that has been set up for over 7 months. I see a lot of activity with copepods in my LR. I have about 15 lbs of LS with a 2" layer of regular sand underneath (totaling about 3-4" of substrate) and 45 lbs of LR. Currently, I have 1 clownfish, 1 blue damsel, 1 green chromis, and 1 royal gramma. I have about 10-15 red and blue legged crabs, 1 emerald crab, 3 big snails and about 50-100 baby snails (THEY MULTIPLIED :scared: lol)
I am wanting to add a mandrian dragonet and know they live off of copepods. My question is, will it be ok to add him to this tank? I currently feed the other fish frozen brine shrimp but once they are out of my hospital tank, (got ich pretty bad, but treated them with Cuppramine for 6 weeks in a 10 gal hospital tank), I plan on feeding them live brine. Will the dragonet survive with brine shrimp even if the copepod supply diminishes after a while?
Thanks,
Sheppie
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
In my opinion it's probably not going to work. Within a month the Dragonette will have completely wiped out your pod population.
 
smshep01

smshep01

Member
I have done some research and read that they may take to live brine shrimp as an alternative. Is this true?
Sheppie
 
chris17

chris17

Member
They might take to live brine, but that is not a good sub. for a fish that eats nothing but pods, the mandarin would have your pod pop. almost wiped out within just a few weeks or months. If you really wanted one , you could set up a fuge, but I would recomend at least a 15g fuge with as much live rock as you could afford/ fit into the tank, then let it run for a few months so that the pods can populate the new fuge and all its live rock. If you could set up an above the tank fuge that would be a million times better, due to the fact that the pods would survive the trip into the DT. In an under tank fuge they have to go through the pump, wich kills most of them.................you might be able to do what I mentioned and be fine, but its still a gamble............HTH
 
jeepboy

jeepboy

Member
Do they eat all pods or just smaller ones? I have lots of big amphipods and they kind of freak me out at night since it looks like a plauge.
 
iloveclowns

iloveclowns

Member
i have a mandarin in my 20x that has been there for about 2mothes.. she has gotten rid of many of the copepods but there are still a ton left.
i just got back from vaca and she is healthy and very fat
she also sometimes eats cyclopes
 
gasguzzler

gasguzzler

Active Member
It goes case by case. I had one for two years in a 55 with only 30 lbs. LR! I lost him in the move, waited six months, and the new one died a month after. I have all kinds of horror stories, but, Id say go for it. They are incredibly interesting and you have a good supply of rock. Dont count on it eating anything else though. In 2 years mine never did.
 
donnelr

donnelr

New Member
Where can I find this Cyclopes food that everyone is talking about. I have a green mandarin and he will not take any other food but amphiposds and I am staring to worry that he will clean me out pretty soon.
Secondly, does anyone have pictures of a male and female. I am trying to determine the --- of the mandarin that I have now.
 
slcfishead

slcfishead

New Member
gas, what other fish did you have in your 55gal?
I've been looking into dragonettes myself.
My 45 gallon has about 50 lbs LR.
 
duke13

duke13

Member
Each Mandarin is different, some will eat live foods in addition to pods, some won't. I guess if your Mandarin does eat more than just pods, you're in luck. Chances of survival dramatically increases.
 
gasguzzler

gasguzzler

Active Member
I have two 3 stripe damsels, one yellow tail damsel, a pair of clowns and a flame angel. I had a juvi yellow tang, but he moved on to the 125.
 
madysmom

madysmom

Member
imo the pods are a must for a mandarin BUT i have a 29 gallon tank and i too have a mandarin in it he has been there for over 3+ months now and i am proud to say he eats ANYTHING.. lol seriously he eats flakes that i put in for the rest of the tank and he will eat frozen brine and live brine and many other frozens that i drop in for the rest of the tank. good luck, I love my little manny!!
 
edwar050

edwar050

Member
My mandarin has decimated my pod population- he now sometimes eats brine- looking for a good source of live food such as mysis shrimp or a new home with plenty of pods in tuscaloosa al for him:(
I want to keep but not if he's not getting enought to eat-
 
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